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The other day, I tried making bread for the first time. I chose Challah. It looked so delicious. Was this a bad choice for a first timer??? I have no clue about what breads are harder to make than others. My husband and I were left with a flat, dense braided loaf of solid dough.

Today...I tried it again...I just got up and checked my second loaf...and it didnt turn out. Ugh. That's frustrating.

Beautiful spring weather in Oregon this year so I've been spending a lot of time outside and away from the oven. I did bake some delicious sourdough boules yesterday though.

In other news, the local berry stand down the block opened today. 

For those that are tired of stopping your Kitchenaid mixer every few seconds to scrape the side of the bowl

check my latest entry on the Forum Topic labeled Stuck on Italian.  This really works.  All I do is spray the new

blade with oil, add my ingredients then mix until I need the dough hook which I also spray.

Bix

Posted on 5/26/09 at evilshenanigans.com

Do you impulse buy?

Last week's result

Yesterday's result

Chinese had been poor throughout history. It's customary to greet people, "Have you eaten?"  Up until recently, when I had to call someone on the phone, the first thing I said was, "Have you had lunch (or dinner)?"  This is my hello, how's it going sort of greetings.  Lately I've found that must have sounded absurd to people.  I ran into Carol, our neighbour, and two (or should I say, three) nice looking lady friends of hers saying good-bye to each other at our cul-de-sac around mid-day today.  What did I say?

Last night, I refreshed a liquid levain with the intension of baking a batch of Pat's (proth5) baguettes today. I made a slightly higher hydration dough with Giusto's Baker's Choice flour and 10% KAF White Whole Wheat.

This morning, I mixed the dough, did the autolyse, stretched and folded, and put the dough in a bowl to bulk ferment. After the first folding, my wife and I dashed out to run a couple errands. As we drove, we discussed dinner and decided we felt like pizza.

Many times when I give a loaf as a gift it is still warm and I am reluctant to put it in a plastic bag to risk ruining the crust. I have used teatowels but then the recipient feels obliged to return the "wrapper". I am also a quilter and as anyone who quilts or is related to a quilter can tell you - we have fabric! Yards and boxes and closets full of fabric. So my latest idea is to sew bread bags. No more lost teatowels, no more huge ziploc bags to accomodate sharp "ears" which can tear a 1 gallon bag.

Peter Reinhart's recipe for San Francisco Sourdough Bread in "Crust&Crumb" is one I keep coming back to. I have enjoyed many French-style levains with a more subtle sourness, but I still prefer the assertively sour San Francisco-style Sourdough. Reinhart's formula in C&C is the one with which he won the James Beard Award, and it is a winner in my book too.